Thursday, June 23, 2016

Arresting Americans by Location

In Mineral Country, Nevada the annual arrest rate is 2 people per 100,000. Just over the border in Esmeralda County the arrest rate is an incredible 126 per 100,000 people. Are the citizens of Esmeralda County relentless criminals or is something else going on here?

In Arresting America Fusion has mapped the arrest rates in most counties in the United States (there are some gaps in the data so some counties are missing). The map provides a choropleth view of where the police make the most and least arrests as a percentage of the population.

Fusion asks if these huge differences in arrest rates, displayed on the map, reflect the amount of crime in different areas or whether the police in some areas are targeting citizens - because they are black or because the police are writing tickets to raise money.